Red, White, and Right

Looks like some Republicans on Capitol Hill who spent days and weeks and months opposing Donald Trump’s border wall aren’t quite the vocal opponents any more.

Could it be political pressure coming home to roost? Trump, after all, did receive resounding applause from constituents of all walks of life for his vow to build a wall. And now that he is in fact the president-elect, perhaps the Republicans in Congress who mocked him and tried to distance themselves from him realize that not only is he headed to the White House – yes, that’s a reality – but that they face their own elections in the coming years.

And they might want to be on the side of the populace, right?

In fact, Republicans now are so happy to build a wall they don’t even want to wait to get Mexico to pay for it, it seems.

“Republicans on Capitol Hill say they don’t need to wait for Mexico to make good on President-elect Donald Trump’s central campaign promise: building a southern border wall,” the Washington Post reported. “In fact, they are happy to underwrite the wall themselves, at a potential cost of many billions of dollars.”

This is quite a switch from a few months ago, when Republicans didn’t want the wall, but Trump said Mexico would pay for it. It’s estimated to cost around $8 billion, but construction experts say that price tag may double.

So what’s going on with the wall?

It’s politics, as usual. Republicans don’t want to risk losing their constituents’ favor, particular since the Trump White House has become reality and it appears more Americans than not are insistent on some strong U.S. stands against illegal immigration.

And Trump can’t afford to tick off the people who brought him into power by waiting for a chance to force Mexico to pay for a wall it doesn’t even want. So the compromise, as Trump put forth in recent days, is find a budget in with the American people, and get taxpayers to front the cost while Trump turns around and finds a way, in due time, to get Mexico to repay the costs.

Good politics or simply more talking the talk, without the walk? Time will tell. But at least Trump’s moving forward with a border plan that doesn’t focus on amnesty.